Accepting Scars

"What?"

I expected the disbelief in his eyes and his voice, so I just closed my eyes and nodded, seeing nothing wrong with his behavior.

The day my father had died was undoubtedly one of the worst days of my life. He was the best dad ever, and I couldn't ask for more. Him being alive delayed my imminent omega status, and he never let me suffer despite our low statuses. But on those days...on these days when he was a little less human..when he was a little less like my father...

I believed it was the price I had to pay for surviving alone. The price I had to pay for the other days of bliss that he gave me. The price for being me.

I swallowed hard as Austin knelt in front of me, then slowly traced his fingers on my stomach. He looked at me, and his eyes glistened with the tears I never let my father see when he drunkenly did that. The tears I swallowed no matter what as he put the sharp edge of the knife over the open fire, his other hand holding mine.

It was the price I believed I had